


An Inquisitor, in Check

by PinkAfroPuffs



Series: The Scorching Inquisitor (Side A) [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Betrayal, Male Friendship, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-11-07 10:41:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17958947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkAfroPuffs/pseuds/PinkAfroPuffs
Summary: Solas isn't actually good at stacking ladders. He's only good at stacking lies.





	An Inquisitor, in Check

Sometimes, Mamoru spent his time trailing his hand along the winding hallways of Skyhold, occasionally meeting chipped paint and age-old markings in the wood. When he passed Solas’ room, he stopped, eyes wandering over the hand-painted murals around and above the space.

He thought it felt homey, but cold; it was hard to describe exactly why he felt this way, or why he stepped into the space without knowing Solas was within it until he heard a, “Can I help you?”

The Inquisitor nearly jumped out of his skin. “Oh, Creators-” His hand pressed to his chest, hoping to calm himself. “I’m sorry. I noticed you fixed up the place a bit. It’s beautiful, really. Sorry to intrude, _hahren_.”

Solas only shook his head, a tiny bit amused at his reaction. “You aren’t intruding…. _greatly_. What can I do for you?”

He opened his mouth at first, eyes flickering to the ceiling and then back down to Solas before he crossed his arms. “I’ve only one question. How did you get all the way to the roof?”

“A ladder,” he answered simply, though it seemed a little funny to him.

“Just the one?” Mamoru cocked his head to the side.

“Maybe two or three.”

“On top of one another?” Mamoru cleared his throat, hoping it would stave off his laughter. He didn’t want to seem like he was making fun, after all.

“Oh, of course.” Solas gave him an uncharacteristically grand gesture. “I am a man of many talents. One of them includes ladder stacking.”

“And painting,” Mamoru nodded seriously. “I lack artistic talent, so this is...beyond me. How do you get anything in the right place without any lines?” He wanted to touch it, actually, since he was a very tactile person and it all looked very pretty and touchy.

Actually, he was doing so already. The miniscule grooves of the paint brushed against his fingertips, the tiniest of bubbles passing underneath them; he noted that the patterns were deliberate, and in some places textured and curvy, depicting the winding roads leading to the very top of the mural.

“Having fun?” He was studying him intently, not unlike the way his father did when asking him an important question- usually with things that didn’t have answers. Contemplating it, he sort of nodded.

“Sort of. The texturing is very…” Crunchy wasn’t the way to put it. “Groovy?”

“You use a different brush for it,” Solas nodded. “A different brush for a different task. Much like magic. Which...you were going to ask me about?”

The Inquisitor blinked once, then twice. Funny how he liked to do that; Mamoru wasn’t going to initially, but, “Hm. While I’m here, I might as well.”

* * *

 

They spent a couple of hours talking and Solas demonstrated a couple of theories in action; Mamoru wasn’t a Dreamer himself, but as a historian he felt like he was hearing some important _stuff_ and that made him giddy. In the end, they found themselves sitting on opposite sides of a chessboard, cheerfully discussing magic over tea.

“There’s already a school of magic dedicated to the rifts?” Mamoru laughed, taking a sip of his own tea, black and tempered with sugar. His fingers danced around the pieces on the board for a few moments before he moved one. “I didn’t think the shems worked so fast.”

“It is interesting, isn’t it? To see how fast one can go with even a little bit of knowledge,” Solas mirrored him, drinking his own herbal tea, lemongrass or something, with little to nothing added to it. “The humans are not so different from us, really. So long as they have the desire to learn, we can find common ground.” After doing so, his eyes focused on the board, leaning back just a bit before he moved his own piece.

“Tell them that,” Mamoru shook his head. “I’ve met many a human mage that values their own stance as a human over the fact that we’ve magic in common. It’s strange, too. Aren’t we all suffering under the weight of the current climate?”

It was here that Mamoru took a good look at their game, which, while it had been played in the stress-free idea of fun, always ignited Mamoru’s competitive nature, especially when he realized he was losing. “...oh dear me. I seem to have been talkin’ too much. When’d you get so many of my pieces?”

“Somewhere between talk of the destruction of the Chantry and the Archdemon.” He smiled distinctly in a way that was both parts good natured and smug. “Though I value your insight on it. It’s nice to hear a...knowledgeable perspective.”

This sort of pleased Mamoru, though he wasn’t sure he liked the implication. Still, he felt too giddy to challenge him, and after another sip of tea, his brain felt more focused on the game. “You’re too kind,” he grinned, “but flattery isn’t going to win you the game. Check.”

Solas seemed a little impressed, but not worried at all. “I’ll admit you play a good game, Inquisitor, but you won’t be taking this one.” He moved his own piece. “Check.”

Mamoru’s fingers hovered over the board. His own piece- that he’d decided would win him the game- had been placed in check. “...oh. Oh, you sly dog.”

“I prefer to think of myself as more of a wolf, picking off the weaker pieces,” Solas pressed his hands together, sitting back in his chair. “Your move, Inquisitor. You’d better make it count.”

It was exactly then that Cole burst into the room, Varric behind him as they made so much noise that the table moved and all of the pieces on the board began falling in the most haphazard and comical manner. Varric seemed very intent on telling him something along the line of common sense, but Cole, who seemed to want another opinion, was already coming to Solas for advice.

“Am I more human or less?” He asked suddenly, and Mamoru, who realized immediately that he didn’t want to try to answer that question, sort of scooted his chair away. He loved Cole like a little brother (it was a distinct feeling, seeing as he had four others) but sometimes his issues were out of his area of expertise. For once, he wished Cole would come to them about something normal like puberty or something.

Mamoru cleared his throat, gently brushing some of his snow-white hair behind his ear. “Well, I think-”

“Wait.” Solas stopped him. “I want to hear the whole thing. Everything Cole has to say.”

“It’s a bit late for that, Chuckles,” Varric cut in, his normally jovial tone a tiny bit strained. “The kid wants answers, and he needs them _now_. I found some information about the Templar-”

Mamoru’s hand lingered over the chess board, his fingers wiggling for a piece to take, almost as though he wasn’t involved in the conversation going on. Though he enjoyed helping his friends, he’d hoped he would be getting downtime today, and he and Solas hadn’t even finished their game yet.

 _What_ would _be the proper move?_

Immediately after thinking this, he was entirely pulled away from the game and tossed onto another companion quest.

* * *

 

Fragments of a forgotten game roll across the tiles of the empty room. Though Mamoru is used to wearing shoes in Skyhold, he isn’t wearing them now, the cold of the space pressing against his toes and then his fingers as he grabs the chess pieces. Black, white. Pawn, rook. Bishop, Knight.

King…

On a whim, he glances upward, and then leans back to see the ceiling better; empty space and empty walls all the way up, paintings taking up room but not enough-

He drops the chess piece.


End file.
